Daily Times

Sir: I had wanted to renew my CNIC that had expired. I decided to check for an executive registration centre online.

A look through nadra.gov.pk suggests that executive offices are open from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Believing the authenticity of this information, I decided to visiting the Nadra office at Shahrah-i-Quaideen. Dismayed at the closed doors of the office, I learnt that offices are open only till 2:00 pm. The next day I managed to reach the office at 11:00 am. An hour later I was called to the desk to learn that I need to go to my regional centre for my national ID card.

When I explained to them that my parents had got their smart ID cards made from the same centre a couple of months back, I was informed that currently only local Nadra centres were authorised to make smart cards.

The desk correspondent advised me to visit the Nadra office either at the Five Star Roundabout or in Naseerabad. On the third day of my ordeal, I went to the executive office near the Five Star Roundabout where I was again told that I must visit the Nadra centre at Nazimabad Gujjar Nala.

Arriving there I realised I was misinformed and that the Nazimambad-3 centre is an ordinary centre. From here I went to the Naseerabad executive registration office. Here one is not even allowed to step into the office. Two queues representing either gender await just before the entry gate where an armed guard was deputed to restrict the entry. The agent at the desk asked me to go to the Nazimabad-3 office. When I asked him to write what he said on a piece of paper, he plainly refused to do so and I had no choice but to see the manager of the centre who was busy negotiating a fee to issue the birth certificate for a child whose parents did not have their marriages registered by Nadra.

Later while dealing with me when I urged him to give me a written answer, he plainly refused to do so. After a futile final attempt, I came out of the Nadra office dejected and disappointed.

Shumail Mazahir

Karachi